The holidays are over, and it’s time to get back to get serious about your knitting. Especially if you made a New Year’s Day resolution to take your knitting to the next level. A Great Yarn’s Winter Semester Knitting Classes kick off on February 9th. Classes will be conducted on Saturdays as a single, all-day workshop, beginning at 10:30 am and lasting until 3:30. A Great Yarn will provide morning and afternoon snacks and refreshments, and workshop participants will be asked to bring a bag lunch.

We use a workshop format since we have found that this approach maximizes learning, builds camaraderie among the workshop participants, and is just plain fun.

Given the demand that we have already received we are scheduling two to three sessions for each workshop so that as many participants as possible can attend.

Here’s the schedule.

Workshop No. 1: Learn to Crochet…and Get Hooked on a Feeling

While general crochet techniques will be taught in the workshop, the focus will be on learning to crochet TOFT’s delightful Edward’s Menagerie collection of animals

The cost of participation will be $80, which includes one of 24 different TOFT crochet kits

This is your opportunity to deal with one of the majors hurdles many knitters have difficulty getting over, and which limits their ability to expand their knitting repertoire

The cost of participation will be $75, which includes all required starting materials

Session 1 will be taught on Saturday, April 13

Session 2 will be taught on Saturday, April 27

Fearless Fair Isle Knitting

Fair Isle knitting is making a comeback, and this is your chance to get ahead of the curve

The cost of participation will be $75, which includes all required starting materials

Session 1 will be taught on Saturday, May 11

Session 2 will be taught on Saturday, May 25

Each workshop will be limited to six participants, or a first come first served basis. If you are interested in participating in one of this winter’s technique workshops please give us a call at 508-348-5605, or send us an email at info@agreatyarn.com. Depending on the level of interest, we will add additional sessions for each class.

Our annual Knit-a-Thon begins February 1st. Once again, A Great Yarn — in partnership with the Housing Assistance Corporation of Cape Cod – will lead an effort to knit blankets for Cape Cod’s homeless population.

Our first Knit-a-Thon in 2016 produced 29 blankets for the Cape’s homeless. In 2017, the number jumped to 155 blankets. Last year’s total was 192. This year our goal is 250 blankets. We know that’s an ambitious target, but we also know that the demand for the blankets keeps growing. Even though we prepared 192 blankets last year, the number was not sufficient to meet the demand, and many of the Cape’s homeless were unable to receive one of our blankets

The Knit-A-Thon will run for three months: February, March and April. During that time we are asking you to use up your extra yarn to knit panels one-foot wide and six-feet long using whatever washable, worsted-weight yarn you like. We will then sew the panels together to make blankets.

The instructions for knitting the panels are as follows: Participants should use washable, worsted weight yarn, and put 50 stitches on a size 8 needle. We would also like participants to knit panels that are six feet long, which will make it easier to prepare blankets. Please knit as many panels as you like. If you want additional information just send us an email at info@agreatyarn.com, or call us at 508-348-5605.

To date more than 300 knitter’s and crocheters in 10 different states have participated in the Knit-a-Thons. We are very grateful for your collective efforts. And so is our partner The Housing Assistance Corporation. The HAC maintains a number of shelters on the Cape, including the Carriage House shelter in North Falmouth, which provides shelter for homeless women and their children, and the Angel House shelter in Hyannis, which provides an addiction recovery program. Anne Van Vleck, the Chief Development Officer for the Housing Assistance Corporation, recently shared with A Great Yarn that the blankets from the Knit-a-Thon provide “warmth, care and compassion” for the homeless. She also shared that clients frequently become “teary-eyed when receiving the blanket, knowing that someone had taken the time to extend a kindness to a stranger. Families who have received the blankets say they have an aura of goodness about them.”

As we do every year, we will cap the annual Knit-a-Thon by “yarn bombing” the shop on May 1st, covering every possible surface with everyone’s blankets. It might be the most colorful day in Chatham during the entire year.

In March, 2015, A Great Yarn introduced our original Chatham Yarn. Designed in collaboration with hand dyer extraordinaire Mishellee Poulin, it embodied Chatham’s one-of-a-kind summer colors.

In December, 2015, we created Chatham Yarn – The Finest Hours, which represented our attempt to capture the roiling waters off Chatham’s coast in winter, made famous by the Coast Guard’s 1952 rescue of the crew of the Pendleton.

In August, 2016, we added Chatham Yarn – Month-by-Month to the mix. As anyone who has ever visited Chatham knows, our town is a treasure trove of iconic images, and every month we turn one of them into fabulous yarn.

For the past two years, A Great Yarn has created a new Chatham Yarn every month, based on our favorite Chatham images, and recommendations from our customers.

We have provided the monthly offerings to the members of our Chatham Yarn Month-by-Month Club at a discount, together with appropriate knitting and crochet patterns, a greeting card featuring a photograph of the Chatham image that was the inspiration for dyeing the yarn, and an assortment of knitting tools and accessories to show our appreciation. We have also included free shipping. To date, we have had over 70 knitters join the Club.

Beginning in August, 2018, we will offer our fifth six-month installment of Chatham Yarn Month-by-Month offerings, and we will again attempt to transform Chatham’s iconic images into yarn. As before we will look to include a bit of nature, a bit of Chatham’s history, and some of our favorite Chatham business establishments to inspire our yarns.

The cost for each monthly offering (plus patterns, picture and all the trimmings) is $45 per month. If you would like to receive all six offerings, we will provide a 15% discount, and also include free shipping. Give us a call in the shop at 508-348-5605, or send us an email at info@agreatyarn.com, if you would like to participate. And also let us know which of your favorite Chatham images you would like us transform into yarn for August’s Month-by-Month offering.

Even the best knitters need a helpful suggestion now and then. And every knitter has experienced the pattern with the poorly written directions, or the “sweater from hell.” The staff at A Great Yarn can help every knitter – the beginner, the intermediate and the expert – with their knitting problems, whether they are big or small. And if we can’t help, we’ll find someone who can.

The best way to solve your knitting problems is to visit A Great Yarn during our “HELP DESK” hours, which are Tuesday and Friday from 1:00 to 5:00 pm, and Saturday from 10:00 am until noon. We will always have an expert knitter in the shop during those hours who can sit with you and help fix your knitting problems.

There is no charge for getting assistance from our HELP DESK, and you are not required to use our yarn or our patterns. If there is a major issue with your knitting that might require several hours to address we can also schedule a private lesson to provide the assistance you require.

Even if you don’t want specific help, you’re still more than welcome to come in during HELP DESK hours (or any other time for that matter) and just sit and knit with your fellow fiber artists. Enjoy the camaraderie and pick up some good ideas while you’re at it.